Can They Be Champ? 11.06.07: Survivor Series Title Matches

That was a fun Raw last night, wouldn’t you agree? The Jeff/Rey vs Finlay/Kennedy tag match was very good, as was the DX vs Orton/Umaga match. The DX intro sketch and the Austin/Saninto bit were a bit pointless, but I enjoyed them non-the-less. Going back to the DX intro, it was a bit strange to see key-fabe broken so much. Anyways, I think that was one of the more enjoyable Raws we’ve had in awhile.

It also looks like steam is finally picking up for Survivor Series. We have our Raw and Smackdown main events, the traditional Survivor Series match, and… Hornswaggle vs Khali.

Today I’m going to talk about the main events, and give some insights on who I think may win, and where these matches will lead us.

Batista vs The Undertaker

Fourth times a charm, right? I have some pretty high expectations for this match. All of the Batista/Taker matches have been solid, and a couple of them have been downright awesome. This is definitely a feud worthy of Hell in Cell. This has all the makings of an epic match, and I’m willing to guess that it will be the main event for Survivor Series.

In this feud, we have two draws, a win for Taker, and a win for Batista. That makes them even. Assuming this will be the last match in the feud for awhile, and considering its Hell in a Cell it probable will/should be, who ever wins this match will not only be the new WHC, but will also win the feud. So, who is the WWE going to go with? Bot men are over, and both could recover from a loss here. Taker probably more-so. At this point, I think the WWE is going to want Batista to go over. I think there’s still a lot of mileage to get out of a Batista title run, and considering that Taker isn’t really in a position to work a champion’s schedule, it makes more sense. Besides, what would Batista do if he lost the belt? We’ve already spent the whole year watching him hunt the belt. Would they really push more of that on us.

So I am going to have to predict a Batista win, and I think that win will end the current Taker/Batista feud. As for what comes next, we’re going to need a new heel for Batista for fight. Considering that Edge looks to be coming back for Survivor Series, and also considering that he had to give up his championship due to injury, he’s sure to be back in the title hunt shortly upon arriving.

Will Edge win the title from Batista? Well, this is a bit far in the future to accurately predict, but I think so. I’m guessing that we’re going to see Edge as the WHC going into WM24.

Orton vs HBK

Here we go again. After the non-finish we got at Cyber Sunday, this time it’s for real! Orton is still just barely into his title reign. Losing the belt this early would hurt his credibility a good deal, especially considering the short length of his previous reigns. Orton needs to be Raw’s top heel. This guy needs some high profile victories to cement that position.

If it wasn’t for that, and HBK win would make a lot of sense to me. He’s as over as can be, he’s in a hot feud with a hot heel, and HBK is quite frankly due for another title run. As champion, HBK could do a lot of good getting some of Raw’s younger heels over, especially Mr. Kennedy. Still, I think HBK will be working such feuds without the belt.

I am going to predict an Orton win. As for what comes after that, I’m really not too sure. They may still try to get another HBK/Orton match out of the feud; this time with some sort of match gimmick. It has been awhile since we’ve had a ladder match, for example. I guess the real question is who I think is going to hold the belt going into WM24. Again, I don’t feel that comfortable predicting events that far into the future. Still, if pressed, I would have to guess HHH. I think after the HBK/Orton feud, Orton will things back up with Trips, eventually leading to HHH winning back the belt. Unless, of course, they’re planning to save Orton vs HHH for WrestleMania. I doubt it, since we’ve already seen that match enough. Heck, we saw it twice in one PPV.

Could the reasoning for the Miz being voted in to face Punk have more to do with the fact that Punky is a face, and less to do with how over the other choices are? Now the three choices are (from a markish point of view)…Big Daddy V, who has beaten everybody in front of him and only lost to Punk at No Mercy because his manager stupidly interfered, John Morrison, the epitome of awesomeness and the guy who has beaten Punky at every turn, or The Miz, who hasn’t done a whole hell of a lot but fight with Balls Mahoney since he came over from SmackDown. Now, you are young Marky Mark (not to be confused with the rapper) and you are sitting down to vote for your hero’s opponent. Do you vote for: the unstoppable monster (V), the guy who has beaten your hero multiple times before (Morrison), or the guy who has no business to fight for the belt (Miz)? I don’t think it has anything to do with whether people care about V and Morrison. It’s about people voting for the safest opponent for their face champion. That is why using Cyber Sunday to gage how over superstars are is a flawed concept.

– J

Larry actually had a similar theory. It is a good point that the Cyber Series polls are not necessarily popularity contests. If someone wanted to vote for someone they thought Punk would beat, the Miz probably would have been the best bet.

First off, AWESOME new logo, I love it! Now, regarding your
pessimistic look at the ECW title scene: if some ECW wrestlers might
be seeing time on SmackDown, doesn’t it stand to reason that we might
see some SmackDown wrestlers fighting on ECW’s show, possibly even for
the ECW World Title? Is it inconceivable to think that a guy like
Finlay might somewhere down the road be wearing an ECW World Title
belt?

–Paul
Cleveland, OH

While we will be seeing some Smackdown wrestlers on, ECW, and while I would hope that some of ECW’s bigger draws will be wrestling for the ECW Title, and while I do hope that Finlay will be one of them, I never, ever, ever expect to see Finlay become a world champion. Not even of ECW in the state it’s in.

Finlay is awesome, though. I heard he loves to fight.

Thanks for the mail, everyone. Keep it coming!

I wonder who Edge is going to fight at Survivor Series. Oh, I just realized, Kane doesn’t have match, does he?